


A Summer's Day in Hell

by fishcrow



Category: Hazbin Hotel (Web Series)
Genre: Advice, Barbecue, Bittersweet, Conversations, Day At The Beach, F/F, Fanart, Gen, M/M, Short & Sweet, Summer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-08
Updated: 2020-05-08
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:40:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24080719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fishcrow/pseuds/fishcrow
Summary: Episodic One-ShotAlastor drags his friends out to a secret little bank of sand alongside the Sea of Fire,but simple enjoyments don’t come so easily to everyone.[Can be read with your preferred ship leanings][Fic-inspired Radiohusk fanart, also!]
Relationships: Alastor & Angel Dust (Hazbin Hotel), Alastor & Charlie Magne, Alastor & Husk (Hazbin Hotel), Alastor & Niffty (Hazbin Hotel), Alastor & Vaggie (Hazbin Hotel), Alastor/Husk (Hazbin Hotel), Angel Dust/Husk (Hazbin Hotel), Charlie Magne/Vaggie
Comments: 5
Kudos: 94





	A Summer's Day in Hell

**Author's Note:**

> I hope everyone feels like they had a good time at the beach after reading this, hahahahaha.
> 
> There's some fanart inspired by the first part of this fic, which I'll link to at the end ;)

The tang of gasoline lifted from molten, cracked asphalt as six figures straddled the roadside. Five spines bent under the relentless heat of mid-morning while their sweat collected in soft shadows, only to be evaporated in the glare of the fiery pentagram alight in the sky. Perhaps the waft of a magnolia flower hung on the dead breeze, a mirage delivered from the abscess of a long-forgotten memory. 

Angel Dust turned to survey his struggling companions, each laden with various beach-going equipment. Charlie lifted an unwieldy ice cooler on one side with Vaggie supporting it from the other. Niffty and Husk negotiated with spindly umbrellas and beach-mats at the rear of the party. Angel himself carried many woven bags over-laden with, “only the bare essentials!” as Alastor had said. Angel listened to gravel churning with effort under their feet as his annoyance began to boil the tears in his eyes.

“Why the **fuck** didn’t we take the limo!?” he exasperated between panting breaths.

“Alastor... insisted we walk,” Charlie reminded him. Her sweat had washed mascara down her cheeks, but she held a pleasant smile while her eyes bore holes into the back of the Radio Demon, who led the party from far in front. 

Angel pulled a sympathetic face, the heat would have been easier on the girls if Alastor hadn’t dressed them to the 9s in billowing sun-dresses before they’d set out from the Hazbin that morning.

A sharp crackle drew everyone’s attention to the aforementioned demon.

“My dears,” he called to his friends, “relaxation is always _so_ much more enjoyable when one has earned it first!”

Alastor ducked under an umbrella that sailed through the air and cluttered to the side of the road in front of him. “ **You’re not even carrying anything!** ” Husk barked sharply to the infuriating demon. 

The cackling laugh popped in the air again, “Don’t fret, Husker dear, we’re almost there!”

Alastor stopped suddenly and gestured with his Radio Staff to the distance. When the party trudged closer, they saw they had come to a high cliff, adorned with a rickety metal staircase which led down to a thin bank of black sand saddling the Sea of Fire.

The Sea of Fire was aptly named for the fact it was almost always on fire, but today the oil-slick waves washed peacefully upon the shore. The harsh light of the sky shimmered on the black sands like starlight, mesmerizing Alastor’s friends into forgetting their grievances with him for the moment. So began their descent into the secret cove. 

\---

Presently, Alastor rested on a straw mat while Husk fiddled with a beach umbrella behind him. Alastor wore a broad-striped shirt tucked under capris he’d cut above the knee. Husk couldn’t help but sneak a few peeks at the demon’s smooth, glowing legs for all his troubles that morning. He billowed his wings as soon as the umbrella was stable and smacked himself down beside his friend. He watched Alastor apply sunscreen in a thin stripe down his nose, his face shaded by a sunhat wrapped in an unapologetically bright ribbon. Husk almost cracked a smile at how ridiculous Alastor looked. Almost.

“Why all the extra trouble today, dollface?” Husk asked.

“I just want to relax,” Alastor smiled.

“You’ve got a funny way of going about _relaxing_ ,” Husk’s face sank into a deep scowl as he looked out onto the grimy waves.

Alastor shook his head, his ears swaying from the hole he cut though the top of his sunhat. He watched his other friends getting themselves situated.

Vaggie and Charlie had unraveled a beach mat not too far away. They’d begun taking turns massaging expired sunscreen into each other's skin, and laughing at the burning sensation. As they shed more and more of their clothes, however, Alastor turned away from their suggestive display.

Husk twitched and frequently changed his position beside him. Alastor fought the urge to run a claw though his sweaty fur-- he was already on thin ice for the day, anyway.

“I did so love the beach while I was alive,” Alastor sighed.

Husk huffed, “This isn’t a beach, Alastor, it’s a cesspool.”

“There’s no cause to be so negative all the time, Husk”

“Well, there ain’t no reason to be “positive” when the world is literally **hell**.”

Alastor paused to think for a moment. The girls giggling to themselves happily, the smooth crashing of waves upon the shore, the screams from the city carried like birdsong into his ears… There was always _something_ to appreciate.

“You see the tar lapping at the shore, Husk, but can you see the reflection of many colors all across the surface? Isn’t that a beautiful thing?”

“I guess it’s kinda pretty,” Husk shrugged.

“If you learn to see the positives in every situation, you might find yourself enjoying even bad experiences.”

“Yeah? Well what about the **worst** experiences? The kind that has no sense or reason to be happening to you?” Husk moodily settled down to watch the sky between the holes of the umbrella.

“Isn’t that all the more reason to find good where you can?” Alastor asked gently.

Husk thought about it for a moment, then closed his eyes.

“Yeah. I suppose.”

Alastor watched Husk’s breathing for a while, until he was sure the cat had fallen asleep. Bored, Alastor rose and buried his hooves in the black sand, enjoying the agonizing sensation. He thread through the beach until he found himself standing next to Angel Dust by the shore. The spider periodically stooped to pluck up a fish bone and send it skimming over the surface of the tar.

“My, you have many talents, dear fellow!”

Angel Dust didn’t smile or look at Alastor at all.

“I use’ ta’ visit a beach like this with my pa’,” he said, his voice distant and small.

“Oh?”

Angel shook his head, as though physically dislodging the black-and-white memory. 

“Do you ‘ave memories of the beach, Al?”

“Why, I hardly ever left N'orleans-- however, the Mississippi would pull away from the Algiers side and expose a lovely little sandbank from time to time.”

“That sounds nice.”

“Yes, it was.”

Angel sighed, and focused on his feet cooling in the shadow under the sand as he picked up another bone.

“I wish I could just stop remembering, Al.”

Alastor watched a rainbow form in the spray as it sailed over the broken surface.

“I want to be happy, ya’know-- and the drugs and sex really help with that,” Angel sniffed his nose absentmindedly, “but when the high wears off, I’m left with a hundred fucking regrets just constantly reminding me what a piece of fucking shit I am.”

“Well, that last part might be true,” Alastor laughed.

“Thanks...?”

“But that’s no reason not to smile, dear! Your problems are far away from this quiet little place!”

“I can’t ignore ‘em, Al. They'll always come back to bite my ass… Sometimes literally.”

“It’s true you cannot change the past,” Alastor materialized a curved fishbone into his claw with a shimmer of green light, “But you **can** forgive yourself for whatever happened… or didn’t,” Alastor flicked the bone across the water, sending a high crest into the air as it skipped out of sight, “and then start again!”

“I’m trying!” Angel turned to look at Alastor with tears burning in his eyes, “That’s why I’m at this crappy fucking hotel! Uh, no offence.”

“None taken,” Alastor replied, “Though, it’s never too late to start making some _better_ memories to occupy your thoughts, hum?”

“Maybe.” Angel turned his attention to another bone. He snapped it in half and tossed it with a _plop_ into the water. “I can try,” he relented.

“That’s the spirit!” Al slapped a hand to Angel’s shoulder in a mock show of empathy.

“Oooh, Alastor~~” Angel jokingly leaned into his touch.

“Oh! I think I heard my name called!” Alastor removed his hand to let Angel Dust collapse softly onto the sand, then swiftly turned away with an involuntary shudder.

As he watched Alastor tactically retreat, Angel chuckled at the fact Alastor could still shiver in such sweltering heat. Feeling the sand quickly begin to burn his delicates, though, he jumped up spied Husk relaxing in the cool shade. Angel reckoned he’d take Alastor up on his suggestion, and made his way to a brand new memory under Husk’s flimsy beach umbrella. 

Alastor soon locked eyes with his next entertainment. He cast an ominous shadow over Niffty’s beach towel. Niffty had been busying herself dusting all the small grains of sand off of her towel, but each movement only caused more dark grains to tumble down. Alastor watched the show for a short while before he turned and fell heavily beside her. Sand flowed under the weight of his body, and Niffty screamed,

“Alastor! It’ll take me weeks to get all the sand out of the hotel at this rate!”

“And you’ll love every moment of it,” Alastor laughed.

Niffty smoothed down her dress and tutted.

“It’s alright for you _boys_ to play around, but at least ladies know to behave!”

As if on cue, Charlie and Vaggie raced each other to the waterfront, sending up plumes of black dust. Alastor opened an umbrella over his friend before the sand rained down on the gorgeous vintage hairdo and pretty pink sundress he’d voodooed up for her. Charlie turned back to apologize, which meant she ultimately lost the race. Alastor merely waved her on with a smile, and she joined her girlfriend in the cold, murky liquid.

“Some things are more important than tomorrow’s problems,” Alastor chuckled darkly, “I should know.”

He sat up and made room for Niffty as they watched their friends’ awkward mating ritual in the sea.

“Sometimes I wish I could be a boy, too,” Niffty quietly confessed beside him.

“Oh, but you’ve always been happy as a woman too, haven’t you?”

“Yes, but... I never got to decide what being a woman even _meant_ ,” she shook her head, bouncing her curls across her face, “Without someone to tell me who I ought to be, how do I know who I am?”

Alastor blinked in confusion as he dissected Niffty’s question.

“Why, maybe it’s not a question of asking who you _are_ , but, rather, who you _ought_ to be… and I’ll still love whoever that is.”

Niffty looked up at him with a big, teary eye and a delicate smile to match. 

Alastor didn’t know every detail of Niffty’s life, but he wasn’t so surprised that gender roles had royally fucked her over. “I’d have killed that bastard husband of yours if I could,” he said.

Niffty giggled, “But then I wouldn’t have gotten to do it myself!”

Niffty started to dust Alastor’s shoulder as he relaxed into his breaths, listening to the gentle creek of the staircase in the breeze. After a few moments, he turned to Niffty again,

“Are you ready to help me with the barbecue?” 

\---

Husk awoke to the burn of hot spices itching his nose, but he kept his eyes close and listened to the waves crashing closer than before. He noticed a palm pressed into his chest, but he could tell from the subtle warmth that it was definitely not Alastor’s frigid, bony claws. Husk opened his eyes, slightly miffed that Angel had replaced his previous companion, but he didn’t swat the spider’s hand away. Angel smiled wide and pressed a cool beer into the cat’s palm.

As Husk sat up and flicked the cap off, he was surprised by how prettily the light glinted through the glass, and how refreshing the cold felt against his paw. Angel’s claw came up to scratch gently behind the cat’s ear.

_Okay… kind of nice,_ Husk sighed to himself, unable to keep himself from enjoying the outing now that Alastor had forced him to keep noticing (and appreciating) such nice, dumb little things.

Angel Dust pressed all his senses into the moment-- and also _Husk_ \-- now that he was committed to stop living in his past for the day.

Charlie and Vaggie had since come in from the tides and rolled in the sands to dry off. They were still mostly covered in the dust as they sat chatting with Niffty by the chest cooler. Alastor cooked away with too many spices as usual (apparently half the kitchen was in Angel’s share of the luggage). Husk soon dragged the spider with the beach mat over to join everyone else as they waited for dinner. 

The meat rolled off the grill in no time.

Niffty had tied her hair back loosely as she flitted between Alastor and her friends, delivering stuffed mushrooms, seared ribs, and other more questionable things to their grease-soaked paper plates. Husk sliced himself an onion to dress his hotdog, which, knowing Alastor, probably used to be some poor hellhound yesterday. As the cooler slowly emptied of food and beverages, the waves began licking at the party’s feet.

Heat quickly lifted from the sand as night descended, and so the party began collecting their things together.

Alastor stood apart from everyone and watched the shores reclaim the beach as he teethed the last meat free of a human hand. 

Vaggie joined him at the water’s edge.

“I saw what you did for everyone today, ya’know.”

“Oh? I didn’t do anything.”

“You gave everyone permission to enjoy themselves today.”

“No, I didn’t,” Alastor chuckled, “they gave that permission to themselves.”

“Why would you be so… kind?” Vaggie hated to say it.

Alastor shrugged, “It gets a little boring around here when everyone is being so miserable, don’t you think?”

Vaggie sighed, “I can’t drag myself out of bed most mornings, not without Charlie: how do you make it look so easy?”

Alastor laughed again, “I’m not perfect, my dear-- you know it takes a lot of conscious effort to be happy. Sometimes, I don’t have the energy or inspiration for it, either.”

Vaggie watched the waves silently, “Happiness… it’s like training a muscle?”

Alastor nodded, then leaned down to check Vaggie’s shoulder with his own,

“You know, they say just smiling can trick your mind into believing it’s happy… even when you’re not.”

Vagglie looked down, and smirked inwardly for the first time at Alastor’s prompting, “Alright, I might try that.”

Charlier called to them from the staircase-- they were ready to go. By the time they (minus Alastor) had dragged their belongings to the top of the cliff, the sea had reclaimed any notion of a beach below them. Alastor pulled a match from his hat and struck it against a nail before dropping it into the sea.

The night seemed to hit differently, as though the heat of the day ebbed away with a deep sadness that craved the safe, artificial light of a hotel room.

“Alastor,” Angel pulled a pleading face, “ _please_ don’t make us walk all the way back in the dark, I promise I won’t flirt with you for a week!”

“I would never have done that to you, dear, but I’ll take you up on that offer anyhow,” Alastor smiled as he transported the party into the hotel lobby.

Husk kissed the floor and scurried over to the bar. He set six shot glasses down and beckoned everyone to join him in the lamplight. To take cheers together still felt awkward, but it was the least Husk could do to thank Alastor for the day without actually saying it. As Husk poured the golden liquid, though, he couldn’t think of what, exactly, to cheer about.

Alastor raised his glass first,

“A toast to another thousand tomorrows, friends,” he said.

The little party smiled friendly smiles and clinked their glasses together, then they broke apart like sea waves crashing upon the rocky shore. Some retreated to the lonely shadows of the hotel, except for those who could not bear to leave the light of the bar. Alastor walked slowly to his room, enjoying the unplaceable scent of a hotel hallway and the soft bounce of the carpet under his hooves. Charlie ran up behind him in the darkness.

“Alastor,” she said.

“Yes?” he asked.

“Vaggie, uh, told me what you’d done today, and I just want to say... thank you.”

Alastor rolled his eyes, he wasn’t exactly trying to subvert his reputation.

“It’s been such a great day,” Charlie continued, “that I’m actually scared to fall asleep!” She laughed nervously, “That’s silly, right?”

“I think I understand your feelings, Charlie,” Alastor turned away from her and slipped into the shadows, “but tomorrow is the most exciting thing, don’t you agree?”

Charlie nodded to herself in the empty corridor, feeling only slightly better to be letting the day end. When she hugged Vaggie tightly in their silk-laden double bed, she tried to feel a small spark of excitement for another day-- a new dawn, a thousand possibilities…. She sighed into Vaggie’s hair as she fell asleep.

**Author's Note:**

> [FANART HERE... pls show some love... after leaving a kudos ofc hahaha](https://twitter.com/koikro55/status/1258850433705140225)
> 
> I actually started my own twitter, too, if you want to chat with me into the void for whatever reason; [ /Fishcr0w ](https://twitter.com/Fishcr0w)


End file.
